Galveston trying to reverse island's population loss

Isle's woes pile upGalveston mayor, other community leaders are determined to reverse city's population loss

HARVEY RICE, HOUSTON CHRONICLE |
May 16, 2011

GALVESTON — Community leaders here, concerned that 50 years of steady population loss could transform what was once one of Texas' great cities into a hollowed-out tourist resort, are scrambling to reverse the decline.

Hurricane Ike bit into the island city's population in 2008, knocking it from 57,000 to about 48,000.

"Our population is going to recover from a bottomed-out low point," Mayor Joe Jaworski said. He wants to restore the population to 50,000 in one to two years. "My sweet spot is to get it up to 75,000," he said.

The idea, echoed by others in the community, is to capitalize on the layout of the historic neighborhoods, historic downtown and seashore by making the city greener and pedestrian- and bike-friendly.

Jaworski says people are leaving the island for three reasons: a misperception that the schools are poor, the shortage of affordable, attractive housing, and a sense that the city lacks cleanliness and safety.

One of those people is Esmy Thomas, 41, an office manager who moved with her family in 2007 from Galveston to League City.

"We wanted something with yards, shopping centers close by, more restaurants, more things to do," Thomas said. "League City was the place to be."

One of the big factors in her decision was Galveston's lack of bike trails. "I love to ride my bike and the only thing (in Galveston) would be the seawall and it's crowded," Thomas said.

Galveston's population reached its highest level in 1960 at 67,000, then began bleeding away.

Scary brewery

A monument to the city's decline sits at 33rd Street and Avenue E not far from the Strand Historic District. The crumbling Falstaff brewery, abandoned since 1981, rises high above the city and covers two blocks. Attracted by its eeriness, Epiphany Filmwerks last year filmed a horror movie titled Hellstorm in the building.

The city's population hovered near 57,000 from 2000 until Hurricane Ike and the stock market crash slammed the city within four days of each other.

"For a city that size to lose over 15 percent of its population over a year, that's pretty significant," Potter said.

Bringing that population back is key to Galveston's survival, Jaworski said. "It is the No. 1 economic development issue for Galveston," he said.

The first challenge, Jaworski said, is combating the misperception that Galveston schools are failing.

"Where this idea that GISD schools are bad came from, I have no idea because it is completely false," said Johnston Farrow, Galveston Independent School District spokesman. Newsweek Magazine ranked Ball High School among the top 6 percent of high schools nationwide in 2010, he pointed out.

Housing mix wrong

Another challenge is to bring the right mix of housing to Galveston to attract middle-income families and allow the workforce to live on the island. Like Thomas, who moved to League City, workers have found they could buy better houses for less money on the mainland.

"We have to find more private developers willing to build homes, not just on the west end," Jaworski said. The city is exploring ways to create incentives.

He said the city is trying to find a developer to demolish the Falstaff brewery and build new homes.

Just building affordable houses isn't enough, said Chula Sanchez, a member of the city's Master Neighborhood Planning Committee. People want green neighborhoods and the city must provide them if it wants to persuade them to move to the island, Sanchez said.

Sanchez's committee is developing a plan to transform Galveston into communities where neighbors can walk to the store for a carton of milk or bike to a movie. The plan envisions blocks lined with trees where houses are built with porches close to the sidewalk to encourage interaction among neighbors.

Sanchez said those houses must be affordable to "the girl who is giving you the pedicure."

Councilman Steve Greenberg says the city needs to invest in capital improvements, and it isn't spending enough money on paving streets, improving parks and replacing sewer and water lines.

A cleaner image

"We need to keep the city in a first-class condition," he said.

Greenberg agrees with the mayor that the city needs a cleaner image. To that end, a cleanup campaign has gathered 210,000 pounds of trash since March, Jaworski said.

Housing, schools and cleanup campaigns alone won't bring people back, said Barbara Crews, vice president of the Historic Downtown Strand Seaport Partnership, representing 800 businesses. The city has to think of itself as part of a region and shed the traditional economic development idea of bringing a big employer to the island to restore its fortunes, she said.

Instead, the city must create a quality of life that will attract people who work on the mainland and are willing to commute, Crews said.

Central to that quality of life are nearby entertainment and retail shopping, Crews said. Crews' organization has proposed to the city a $72.4 million plan that would transform The Strand with cool islands of green and lure retailers. Jaworski said the City Council would meet with consultants on the plan in the next few weeks.